How to Get Started Creating Cutwork Embroidery

According to Wikipedia, "Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with designs stitched in strands of thread or yarn using a needle. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins."

Throughout history, embroidery has been prized as a sophisticated, elegant decoration to clothing, accessories, and furnishings. Some embroidery can stand as artwork on its own, framed and carefully cared for as an heirloom. In ancient Persia, India, Byzantium, medieval England, embroidered clothing and furnishings were a mark of wealth and status.

I'm absolutely obsessed with anything that can stand the test of time. The idea that some of my much-loved labors could be passed on to my daughter, and possibly to her granddaughters, gets me excited every time. It's a sense of immortality, I suppose, that the stitches I used to embroider a table runner or accent a doily might still shine beautifully in a home several generations down.

The problem is that I get bored easily. I've been creating embroidered designs since I was a child, literally learning on my mother's lap. Though the finished pieces still thrill me, I create fewer and fewer embroidered designs now.

So call me a child of the new age, but I'd honestly believed that cutwork doilies, tablecloths, etc. were entirely a machine-made invention. They're beautiful - some of the cutwork embroidery tablecloths that you purchase are worth every penny in loveliness. But because they're so commonly made by machine, I didn't know that they could be created by hand until some months ago after purchasing a cutwork table runner that my grandmother brought up the fact that her mother created beautiful cutwork embroidery pieces.

In came a new craft to try, and out came the pages of research. Want to try your hand at cutwork embroidery? It's so easy, you'll giggle at anyone who marvels over the time it must have taken to create something. But let's keep it our secret, and let them think we're geniuses, ok?

Stitches You Need to Know for Cutwork Embroidery

There are blessedly few stitches you'll ever use in cutwork embroidery. Most designs call for one stitch: a buttonhole stitch (you might have heard of it as the blanket stitch). This style of embroidery creates a tight "hem" and can easily be trimmed right up against. This not only holds your cut design, but completely protects your fabric from fraying.

To work the buttonhole stitch, start as you would with traditional embroidery - a length of thread, a needle, and a knot. Bring the needle and thread to the top of your design on the line of your pattern. For every stitch you make onward, you need to make sure that you keep the working length of thread under the point of your needle. So, bring the needle out on the lower line and position it again in the upper line. Take a straight downward stitch, and pull up to form a loop. Repeat. What you will have is a series of stitches with a "chain" running to the left. This is easier to understand when you reference the illustration attached to this article.

Another common stitch you'll need to know is the common embroidery backstitch. The backstitch creates a continuous chain of overlapping stitches. In traditional embroidery, this is usually the outline and is often done in black. It also appears frequently in blackwork embroidery, created with black silk thread on ivory linen.

To embroider a backstitch, start at the right end of your pattern. Bring the needle up from under the fabric along the line, and insert it two stitch lengths further up the line. Then, bring the needle up again directly in the middle of the stitch you just made. Repeat this way, making sure that the resulting stitches are of equal length.

Easy Steps to Cutwork Embroidery

So, two easy stitches. What else do you need? Not much! Here's the essential supplies you'll want to gather:

• Embroidery needles and thread
  
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• Fabric-Washable Tracing Paper
  
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• Fine linen
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The tracing paper should be the kind that's backed with chalk or an equally easy-to-wash material. In most craft stores or the craft section at your department store, you should be able to find this paper right with embroidery and sewing supplies. It's used often for quilting and applique patterns.

The linen you choose will depend on the piece you want to make. If you're creating a table runner, for example, you'll want a length of fabric that will cover your table without any seams. Doilies can be much easier to start with because they're smaller and require less material.

Finally, you'll need a pattern. There are hundreds of sites online that offer embroidery patterns, but you can also get more creative than that. I recently created a doily patterned on a celtic knot. Basically, the pattern you use will be a stencil, and you'll cut out the pieces that don't go inside the stencil. Also, be sure to look for patterns that have been created for machine-embroiderers. If a machine can do it, so can we!

Use the tracing paper to transfer your pattern on to your fabric (hooray for the Internet and printers!). Then, using the colors indicated by your pattern or ones you have chosen, start working a buttonhole stitch around the design. You want to always work just inside the lines, which allows you to reference the lines for trimming away excess fabric.

Believe me - give it a shot once and you'll be hooked!